The Redemption of Wist Boxed Set: Books 1 - 3: The complete collection

by David Gilchrist

  ‘How can we stop it?’ asked Aviti. Wist saw the fear on her face. No fear could penetrate his self-absorption, however. The thought of being swallowed by the sand seemed almost pleasant.

  Dregan raised a hand to stop Aviti’s protestations. Despite the burden Dregan had removed, Wist could see that something still pressed on him. He was watching the sand-whale’s approach intently – the points of his widow’s peak and clipped nose aimed at the trailing path of the whale. The oscillations of its course had decreased now, as if it was surer of its destination – or perhaps it had found its prey.

  The top of the wave broke and, in front of it, the grey body of a sand-whale crowned; newly born into the light of midday. With a subtle shift of its weight, it slipped back below the boundary that separated its subterranean world from the sky. It never lost any momentum as it rose or sank, it simply kept on going.

  As it rose for the second time, Wist got a better look at this giant. Lines of white and grey ran along its length. He saw glimmers of sapphire in its streaked skin – if this thing had skin. It looked as if it had been carved from the foundation of the earth. There was no head that Wist could see – no eyes, no ears and no mouth to give the sand-whale definition; the front of the massive beast was as smooth as the rest of its body. If the approaching titan could sense them, it used obtuse methods to do so. Wist was enthralled by its deadly beauty. He had never seen anything so powerful, or so perfectly formed. The sheer force that it must require to move astounded him. And it helped him to bury his guilt, if only for a moment.

  The sand-whale submerged once more. The next time it rose, it would be upon them. Wist knew they were powerless. They were all as powerless as he was this time.

  All of them, except for Dregan.

  Dregan stood, shoulders squared to the sand-whale’s approach, his left arm extended and palm exposed, as if he sought to stop it by will power alone.

  The bulge in the sand swung away from them and then looped back. The front of the grey giant broke through the sand once more. It pulled alongside Dregan, sand pouring from its sides, covering the party in a shower of grit. It drew itself to a halt, its body coming to a rest within touching distance of the dark mage. Dregan reached out and placed his hand on the basalt surface.

  Wist watched in awe as a ripple shot along the exposed skin of the sand-whale, causing the blue flecks on its surface to shimmer and glow for a time.

  Wist could not pull his eyes from this spectacular sight. The side of the sand-whale stood at least three times his height, and he had no way to gauge just how much of it lay beneath the sand. He walked forward and stood alongside Dregan. Without asking permission from the mage, he laid his hand on its side. Its surface was cold and smooth, like polished marble. He traced the subtle white lines that ran along its side, the rag protecting his damaged wrist polishing the surface as he went. Dregan snorted, his face contorting with derision.

  ‘Stand back,’ he ordered, motioning Wist to return to the rest of the party. Lacking the will to resist, he complied.

  Dregan stood for a few moments more, a single hand on the sand-whale as he looked at the giant’s side. Then he took a couple of steps back and the whale slipped away from him.

  ‘What now?’ asked Nikka, as it passed back to the depths.

  ‘Wait a moment,’ said Dregan sternly. His face was still drawn from the earlier struggle to contain Enceladus’ gift. The sand-whale turned in a huge crescent and came to rest facing the direction from which it had come, a dozen paces from Dregan’s feet. This time, only a few feet of it protruded from the sand, displaying a large grey platform – the back of the sand-whale.

  ‘Quickly now,’ said Dregan, gesticulating that the group should mount the titan. Faric and Tyla stepped to the horses. With only a pat for farewell, they sent them back to the jungle; their brave service had come to an end.

  Without further hesitation, a small step carried the Lyrats on to the sand-whale, only the slightest disparity between them betrayed their separation.

  Nikka looked to Wist and Aviti. With an ambiguous drop of his shoulders and a resigned wink, he turned and joined the Lyrats atop the basalt shelf. Aviti stood motionless, terror held her firmly in its bitter grasp.

  ‘Get on,’ rasped Dregan, anger flaring in him.

  ‘Shut up, for God’s sake,’ said Wist, his anger freeing his heart. ‘Don’t you have any idea how hard this must be for her? Go on… we’ll be there in a second.’

  Dregan considered his options for a moment. ‘Hurry, we must leave now,’ he said. Then he left them and swept on to the sand-whale where he stood looking expectantly back at them.

  Wist turned away from the mage. He had barely enough will remaining to move. There was none left to waste on Dregan.

  He took a tentative step towards Aviti, but her attention was focused on the back of the sand-whale. Her slender frame trembled as if she stood once more at the edge of Kar-Iktar, bathed in frozen moonlight. Once again, she was the frail little girl from N’tini’s farm.

  ‘Aviti,’ said Wist. ‘Aviti, we should go now.’

  She shook her head erratically, unable to draw her eyes from her fear.

  ‘Aviti,’ repeated Wist. He lifted his hands to her face. ‘Don’t give up. Please, I can’t go on if you give up. Time after time, I’ve crumpled when I should have stood up. Wist stepped closer to Aviti.

  ‘It’s not that bad really,’ he said. ‘A living stone creature - bigger than a village – comes swimming through the desert to offer us a lift – could be worse, eh?’ His attempt at humour drew no response.

  ‘Don’t do this for me,’ he pleaded, ‘I don’t deserve that. But you – you are better than this. Just come with me. You said you wanted to go and -’ his voice trailed off as he tried to explain.

  Aviti looked at Wist, as if she had only just realised he was speaking, the sun reflecting in her deep brown eyes. She had been through so much in the past days: the loss of her family, the growth of her talent, the unveiling of a world that had been hidden from her.

  Perhaps this was a step she could not take? Perhaps she would falter here and refuse Dregan’s order and Wist’s own desperate need?

  Aviti drew herself to her full height, subduing the fear, sublimating her weaknesses and her loss. She nodded a single time to Wist, and then she walked past him and took her place alongside her companions.

  Again, unintentionally, she had shamed Wist. He exhaled and followed her.

  --*--

  They rose and fell with the titan’s rhythm. Occasionally, they would be thrust high into the air, as the huge beast rose to the surface. Sitting on the back of the sand-whale, Wist wondered why, with no eyes to guide it and no need for air, it didn’t drift along.

  Dregan knelt alone at the front of the sand-whale, his hands laid reverentially on the cold stone surface of its back. He had not spoken since they had embarked. Whatever way he communicated his wishes or commands to the sand-whale, it required his full attention. Wist didn’t care. He didn’t want to speak to the mage. He needed to clear his mind.

  They had been travelling for a few hours now, and the tremendous speed that they skimmed across the desert only served to compound the stress within Wist. Soon they would reach Eliscius again. He would need to be ready. But what could he do once they reached their destination? Tilden had already shown that he held powers that Wist couldn’t even understand. Even with his companions, he did not know how they could hope to rescue Eliscius.

  More than that though, the memories of his father’s death posed serious questions for which he had no answers. His dad’s murder was real: the blood, the fear, the stench of death, it could not be denied.

  So where did that leave Mashesh and Eliscius, or Tilden and the Waren? The pain he experienced during his torture by Tilden could not have been imagined. The love he felt for his former mentor was no less real than his anguish for his lost father.

  Could it be as Eliscius had said? Had he taken his life in despair and so
mehow spanned the gap between realities?

  There were still so many holes in his memories that he couldn’t bridge and, right now, he couldn’t bear to think that there was more to reveal.

  Wist’s balance abandoned him as the sand-whale rose once more, and he put his hands down to keep himself stable. The sand-whale’s skin felt cold and smooth, and as hard as iron. Wist traced the delicate lines that dithered randomly along the length of the giant. When he had seen the Corozon moving in the distance, he had been amazed by their size and their grace. Compared to this living titan, they were both clumsy and puny. It radiated power and control as it flowed through acres of empty desert. They had already covered more ground than they would have in many days on foot.

  Thinking of its solitary existence helped Wist to forget his problems. He looked to Aviti who was seated near to Tyla. The terror she had displayed earlier was gone. A stolid determination had replaced it now, as if she fought to control her fears by forcing them to subdue to her will. It looked like she was succeeding.

  Nikka had seated himself closest to Wist and sat looking out to the West. His dark face shone with amazement.

  ‘Quite something, is it not, Son?’ asked Nikka.

  Wist replied with a shrug.

  ‘I overheard what you said to the girl,’ said Nikka. He took a moment to look at Wist and then returned his gaze to the horizon. ‘I never knew my father. He was too busy fighting in one war or another. Died before I was of age to join him in the ranks. I decided then that I would not be just another foot-soldier. I would make something of myself.

  ‘Even though he was not present during my upbringing, he helped shaped me. In trying to be better than he was – more than he ever hoped to be - I consigned myself to my fate. We all make mistakes, Wist,’ said Nikka.

  Wist looked at Nikka. ‘Do you think I should have done something, fought for my dad’s life?’

  Nikka shook his head, ‘No. Your mistake runs deeper than that. You must see that.’

  Anger sparked within the embers of Wist’s heart once more. ‘Deeper?’ he growled. ‘You think I have more blame to shoulder?’

  ‘You mistake guilt for grief,’ said Nikka. ‘Both are necessary for life. Some guilt is deserved and should be carried. It shapes us and girds us, allows us to become more than we were. The same can be said for grief. Stronger men than I have been broken by so small a thing as grief. ‘But to deny its rightful place in your heart is as dangerous a gambit. Its absence can only be filled by hatred, of another or yourself.’

  ‘You talk in riddles,’ breathed Wist, his anger gone – carried away on the desert air. ‘I wish -,’

  ‘Perhaps the time has come to stop wishing?’ asked Nikka. ‘I wished for more than I could ever need, and I got it. It was only when I stopped wishing, I found something worth keeping.

  ‘Aye, Son, you have no reason to listen to me,’ continued Nikka, who had noticed Wist’s head dropping to avoid his eyes. ‘I am just a bitter old fool, eh?’

  Without waiting for a reply, he resumed, ‘This may be the single greatest sight I have ever witnessed. There cannot be a single Cerni who has ever lived has witnessed such a thing. Had I remained locked in myself, I would never have had this chance.’

  ‘Anyway, I suspect you have had enough of the sermon for one day?’ laughed Nikka. He looked at his companions: Faric sat alone on the side of the platform, staring East, looking to where the sun had risen earlier that day; Aviti and Tyla spoke softly, exchanging only a few words.

  ‘I would never have imagined such a desolate place could be quite so magnificent,’ said Nikka, looking to the western horizon. ‘It is easy to get caught up in the minutia of life. When viewed from a different vantage point -’ he spread his arms wide to indicate the limitless vista he now looked upon, ‘you get a little taste of the grand scheme.’

  He fell silent, running his hands over his hammer, which lay reverentially across his lap.

  --*--

  After the fifth hour, even Nikka had grown tired of looking at the endless desert. He had lain down, stretched out and was now muttering to himself in his sleep. Likewise, Aviti had closed her eyes and rested against Tyla, who seemed not to have noticed her incumbent form.

  Wist guessed that Faric sat in solitary vigilance, warding them against whatever could possibly harm them upon this stone titan. Dregan remained as he had since the start of the journey – deeply enraptured.

  Wist had to look a little further south now as the sun was beginning its decent, making the West uncomfortable to view.

  As he looked over the few dunes that marked the barren land, he noticed a bird gliding a few leagues behind them. He watched its graceful flight for several moments, amazed at the efficiency of its flight. It drew a little closer and he caught a glimmer of gold from the bird. Although it appeared an unremarkable drab brown colour, its wings appeared to be tipped with gold.

  Wist watched as the bird altered its course, which had been parallel to theirs, and veered away, but it then corrected its flight and dropped, banking towards them. Excited at getting a better look at their travelling companion, Wist sat forward. N’tini’s words came back to him. What had he said about the things he had seen?

  He shook Nikka awake and pointed to the sky. This was no bird that followed them.

  ‘Dragon!’ cried Wist. ‘Dragon!’

  Then the Lyrats were alongside him. Only Dregan remained unperturbed by the arrival of the dragon. Aviti knelt beside them an instant later. They gaped as the dragon pulled in close and let them see him in all his glory for the first time.

  From the protruding teeth that lined its mouth, to the vermilion talons that crowned the massive claws, this was a beast that was designed for a single task: to hunt. It drew closer, weaving from side to side, as if to gauge its best route for attack.

  Despite the fear Wist felt at its approach, he was amazed by its grace of its movements, the impossibility of its existence and the hypnotic swaying of its body in flight.

  Dregan rose from the position he had held for that whole day at the front of the sand-whale.

  ‘Prepare to jump!’ he shouted to the companions.

  Jump? Was he serious?

  Before he had time to reply, Nikka had wrapped a corded arm around Wist's waist. His dark Cerni features were alive with adventure.

  The dragon lifted its head, now close enough for Wist to see its clear blue eyes glistening in the failing sunlight. It rose swiftly, exposing its gold underbelly. The wind from its membranous wings pushed all of them back a step as it lifted its bulk high above them, preparing to strike.

  ‘Now, now, now!’ yelled Dregan, and he began to run at them, as he sought to drive them off the back of the sand-whale.

  High above them, the dragon altered the shape of its wings, pulling them in and tilting them downwards.

  It began to plummet towards them.

  Wist was thrown from the back of the sand-whale by Nikka. The sand below them had looked as malleable as water whilst the sand-whale had glided through it. When they impacted on the desert floor, it felt like hitting solid stone. As they rolled and tumbled in the sand-whale’s wake, Wist felt the concussion as the dragon collided with the leviathan.

  The sand-whale had not managed to dive in time to prevent the dragon striking it. As they came to a halt, Wist watched as the dragon surfaced. With a thrust of its powerful wings, it pushed itself out of the sand and into the air. With a few more beats, it was leaving them behind. In its claws, a huge chunk of the sand-whale dripped molten rock back down to the earth. The dragon had what it had come for.

  Wist looked at his companions who were gathering their wits, along with their belongings, from the wide arc along which they had been scattered. None of them appeared to be seriously hurt.

  After a few moments, they grouped around Dregan. Nikka, still brimming with excitement, asked the obvious question. ‘What now?’

  ‘We are a few hours out from the outer city wall,’ said Dregan bitterl
y. ‘Even if we leave now, they won’t admit us during darkness. We would be as well making camp here. We should have reached the walls before sunset.’

  Wist ached from the impact, and from sitting idle all day. He was grateful of the excuse to rest for the night.

  ‘Will we be safe out here?’ asked Aviti. ‘Will the dragon not return for us?’

  ‘We have no reason to fear him,’ said Tyla. ‘He has no interest in us. He was simply hunting for a meal and we presented him with an opportunity.’

  Dregan nodded his agreement. ‘I could sense no coercion in his movements. What happened was a case of poor timing, nothing more.’

  Wist saw Faric jogging back towards them from the nearest dune. He hadn’t noticed his absence. Despite the problems that beset the Lyrat, he hadn’t lost the ability to disappear without a trace.

  ‘We are agreed then. We make camp for the night then move just before dawn.’ Dregan said. This was a statement and not a question.

  ‘I have a way into the city,’ said Faric. His voice sounded brittle; it had lost the authority it had once conveyed. ‘It will be unwatched and it will allow us to move now.’

  Dregan’s eyes lit up at Faric’s words and, without waiting for agreement from the group, he signalled to Faric to lead them forwards.

  22 - Very Little Daylight

  Water ran in rivulets down the cold stone walls, gathering in the stream that the party walked through. It slipped by them as they stepped through the dimly lit tunnel, its straight walls leaning to meet a few yards above their heads. Faric had found an abandoned well close to where they had left the sand-whale. He and Tyla had then used a length of Nikka’s rope to lower them to the stream that ran from there, under Bohba, and out to the Mpah Sea beyond. Once the rest of the party were down, Faric lowered Tyla and then descended by bracing himself against the walls of the well. With a single torch to light their passage, they had used the length of rope to tie themselves to each other.